A Lot of Happenings, ER, Eclipse, Kindergarten

 A lot has happened in the last couple of weeks. The biggest and worst thing was Corbin got in a 4 wheeler accident and had to go to the ER. Stealing from Scott's facebook post:
Well, we almost made it 10 years without having to rush a child to the emergency room. Corbin broke that streak in a big way with a nasty 4-wheeler wreck into a ditch/barbed wire fence this evening. Mitzi and I are now hanging out at the Lost River (Arco) hospital while Corbin's eye gets sewn back together, among other things. He's taking everything like a champ though and it looks like (fingers crossed!) no long term damage. But he will have lots of gnarly scars to make up crazy stories about on his first day of school next week. My comment in the thread: All in all Corbin got really lucky. I feel bad because we shouldn't have let him drive the four wheeler in the first place. He'd been doing it for two days and he would drive very slow and responsibly but it still made me nervous. Yesterday two older more experienced boys showed up and stared riding their motorcycles and Corbin went off with them. I saw him leave and he was going way too fast. I went to wait for him to tell him he was done for the night but he wrecked first. I can't imagine how terrifying that must have been for him. He got his eye lid the worst but not any parts that would impact his sight or function (barely missed the muscle). Most of his other body cuts were pretty superficial all things considered. We were at the ER for 3-4 hours. The staff was really great and were not shaming which was nice. Corbin was freaked out and upset at various stages but overall he was very calm and sat incredibly still. He took the shots and stitches like a champ.

So that was crazy! We were in Arco for the Ecipse. Rustin called me months ago asking if my parents would let them watch the eclipse on the farm. I asked my mom and she said yes. Rustin planned a crazy eclipse trip which included wrangling Nicole, Jeff, Janet, Uncle Rick and his sister Stacey to come with him. He rented a GINORMOUS RV. We all met in Arco on Friday before the ecplise. We had a great time playing together in Arco. It was kind of weird to have two worlds collide with the Beals and the Cannons together but it was great. We played dodge ball (which ended in a minor but painful injury for Scott), we had an outdoor movie night, a failed hike attempt, a failed swimming attempt, a trip to Mackay, a few trips to the Craters of the Moon and last but not least THE ECLIPSE! A bunch of people that Chase knows from Twin Falls also came to my parents house on Sunday night.Janet's cousin and niece also joined on Monday. We figured that about 40 people were watching the Eclipse from the Beal farm and it did not disappoint. The ecplise was SO MUCH fun. One of my favorite things was having all of these people at my parent's house. It was a party and made it a lot more special. I thought it was really cool how it slowly got colder as the sun got covered up. During totality it was pretty dark and it was cold and it was TRIPPY. It was so great. I loved it.  It was such a fun trip (minus the traumatic Corbin incidence) and a great way to wrap up the summer. LOVED IT!

The kids started school on Wednesday. Crazy! Piper went to Kindergarten. She was so ready and excited she wasn't one bit nervous and barely bashed an eyelash when I left her there. 

I went to Cascade with a few girlfriends over the weekend and stayed at one of their family cabins. We had a blast. We talked a lot, we ate a lot. We painted rocks. We went on a hike. We played Tripololy and watched Whip It. It was a blast. Loved it. I'm glad Scott held down the fort for me while I ditched for an overnighter. 

I decided to try subbing this year. I want to teach just one or two times a week max. I have my first gig this week at Summerwind with Corbin's old teacher. I'm excited/nervous. I'm really glad my first time subbing will be at a school with teachers that I already know. It should be good! 

This picture was so graphic we didn't post it on Facebook. YIKES!

The next day

8 days later

Cutest Ryan playing with this awesome toy at my friends house.

Corbin having a serious nerf fight.

DODGE BALL!

Wagon rides.

Movie Time

The Cannons did some flower racing. I love the Cannons, they come up with ridiculous ideas and everyone participates. Ha. They are the best!

We had an early birthday celebration for Pipes.

Gabby in the front seat of the RV, why did I not take a picture? It was massive, and awesome.

Craters of the Moon

We saw these guys taking pictures for some Star Trek movie or something.

Luckily he did manage to get in the picture and get out of the way of the star trek peeps!

At the beginning of the Indian Tunnel

At the end of the Indian Tunnel

Party on the front lawn

Another party in the back field

A lot of people gathered the morning of the Eclipse

Look how dark it got.

So cool and eerie. 

Totality

Cutest Pipes off to Kindergarten

2nd Grade!

4th Grade! Day 4 after accident.

Cute Ryan fell asleep on the couch

Our painted rocks from the Cascade trip.

Ears Pierced!

This last week was pretty low key. We just stayed home mostly and chilled. We had a couple of play dates and went swimming with friends on Friday night. The big event of the week was that Gabby and Piper got their ears pierced! I didn't really have a set age in mind for when I would let my girls pierce their ears. I figured when they wanted to bad enough I would let them. I don't know what made them want to do it but they suddenly both became interested and kept talking about it so we did it. My friend Haley has her own ear piercing gun and used to work at a place for years so I asked her if she would pierce the girls' ears. We found a time to come over Friday night and we got it done! Gabby didn't even cry at all. She was pleasantly surprised that it didn't really hurt. I think Piper based on Gabby's reaction was not so pleasantly surprised how much it hurt. She did pretty good with the first ear but kind of lost it on the second ear. Plus the gun kind of got stuck on her ear. It was weird. That earring back went on crooked too. I'm hoping that doesn't cause problems down the road. Haley is going to check it out again tomorrow.

Friday night we had some friends over to watch a movie and Saturday night I had some girlfriends over to watch a movie. Today we went and explored Eagle Island for fun. It was not very warm today we didn't go swimming but the kids played on the park equipment and we walked around the park. Scott found some wild blackberry bushes and we ate some yummy blackberries. On the way home we got some Taco Bell.

My work schedule has picked back up. July must have been vacation month for them (I'm kind of relieved to think of those kids getting a vacation). I've already almost taught as much this month as I did all of last month.

Gabby drew pictures of her summer adventures.

Piper glamming up

Ear pierced girls plus Ryan (not that you can see their pierced ears very well, especially Piper's)

Eagle Island

Blackberries

Blackberry hunt

Corbin's toe after his shower today. The cut is actually pretty superficial but still nasty.

Summer Lovin'

Last week went by fast. We played in the park, went to the movies, had a friend BBQ, went to the river, had a Gabby yard sale.  Summer is wrapping up. We are trying to fit in everything. We went and got family snow cones tonight. Corbin hurt his toe mowing the lawn last week. He thought I told him he needed to mow under the playset (I did not) so he lifted the lawnmower and it got snagged on his toe. Yikes! That might limit our water activities for awhile. I'm not quite sure what we will do this week now.

My work schedule was full last week! Phew, hopefully July was just slow because of Summer. You just never know and because you are an independent contractor you are not guaranteed any classes so it can be stressful for sure. Scott's amazon sales were slow last month too and they have already picked up a lot. July was not our money making friend. 

On Friday I went to a sub orientation meeting. I think I'm going to go ahead and give that a go this year. I will work one or two days a week hopefully and if I hate it, I'll quit! I'm getting ready to get Gabby back in school. She is a busy body and it is hard to keep that girl entertained. Ha. 

Patio lights. Love!

Gabby really wants to take gymnastics. She tries crazy stunts all the time and watches you-tube videos to teach her how to walk on her hands. 

River life!

Ryan riding down the hill at our friend's house.

Friend BBQ. Some came from out of town so we snagged a pic.

Gabby wanted to make cupcakes for her yard sale.

She was all set. She managed to make quite a bit of money with only a few customers. 

The girls helped me make homemade tortillas today. I always want to just do it myself and get it done but I put on my patient pants and they had a blast. They did a good job too. Their tortillas looked like amoebas just like mine. Ha 

Gabby trying to make homemade slime. It kept her entertained for 30 minutes and it kept her busy so I could decorate her composition book for her. Win, win.

I love this so much.

Piper decorated her own. Good work Pipes!

The kids playing bubble gum bubble gum. It lasted two seconds but I snagged a pic first. Cutest!

Just checking out a garden park by our house. So fun.

Insect hotel.

Corbin's toe. Yikes!